Rising Medical Solutions Addresses Ill. Workers’ Comp Reform

Kimberly Moreland, director of Account Management at Rising Medical Solutions Inc., recently spoke to some of the challenges facing those who deal in workers’ compensation at the Work Injury Conference in Springfield, Illinois.

The conference focused on educating the medical, legal and insurance communities about the new changes in Illinois Workers’ Compensation law and the impacts this reform will have on those communities. Moreland spoke about the new legislation’s effect on medical cost containment concerning: utilization review, the new medical fee schedule and medical bill handling.

Of particular importance to Moreland’s presentation was her explanation of how the new medical fee schedule is indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and how the fee schedule for providers treating injured workers mandates that they charge up to 90% of the 80th percentile of actual charges within their specific geographic area.

In additional to Moreland, other industry experts who spoke at the conference included:

* Dennis Ruth – chairman, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Board
* Senator Terry Link – co-sponsor of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill HB2137
* Dr. David Fletcher – medical director, SAFEWORKS Illinois and Professor of Occupational Medical, University of Illinois College of Medicine

According to Moreland, “There is great confusion and great concern among payer organizations, medical providers and provider networks about how the new legislation will be executed and regulated, how these affected parties should incorporate the legislation into their daily business activities and how the reform will ultimately impact their businesses. My goal was to demystify some of the seemingly complex and confusing issues by putting them into layman’s terms.

“As a result of this presentation, I will be speaking at several other educational events throughout the State and I look forward to helping alleviate the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding the Illinois Workers’ Compensation reform – both for members of the Workers’ Compensation community, as well as for Rising’s clients.”